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Newport Beach, Calif. • Auburn's Ricardo Louis and Chris Davis weren't household names nationally when November started.
Then came the Immaculate Deflection and the Kick Six, and that changed in a flash along with the Tigers' season.
Those two defining plays helped launch No. 2 Auburn (12-1) into Monday night's national championship game against No. 1 Florida State (13-0) and catapulted the two players into the limelight.
Louis started it when he collected a deflected Hail Mary pass from Nick Marshall for a 73-yard touchdown on fourth-and-18 with 25 seconds left to give Auburn a win against Georgia. It was perhaps the play of the season. For a couple of weeks.
Then Davis returned a missed field goal all the way from the back of the end zone on the final play to beat then-No. 1 Alabama.
"My life has changed a lot since the Iron Bowl," said Davis, a starting cornerback and one of the nation's top return men. "Every time I turn on the TV, ESPN, I'm seeing that play. But I'm trying to put that moment behind me.
"We've got a bigger task at hand come Monday. We're playing for the national championship, and we're trying to bring it back to the state of Alabama."
Davis and Louis have tried to balance savoring the attention and keeping it in perspective leading up to the title game. Over and over, they've been asked about the famous plays. "Every time I meet somebody new," Louis said, "they always tell me their reaction to that play."
Davis, a senior, played a huge role in getting the Tigers to this point even beyond the Iron Bowl return. He's Auburn's leading tackler and ranks second nationally in punt return average, including an 85-yard touchdown against Tennessee.
Against Alabama, he initially lined up on the wing but after a timeout, coaches put him deep in the end zone for Adam Griffith's 57-yard attempt. The rest is historic.
"When I ran in the end zone, I was saying to myself, 'Wow, this is unbelievable,'" Davis said. "As a player you, always dream of getting in that situation and just embracing the moment."
Davis got a standing ovation in class two days later. The two were featured together on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline "The Gifts That Kept on Giving."